Well, I don't know anything about Crown trucks, and don't claim to, but my impression is: The caption of the 5'-6" wheelbase truck is in error, and it's really a fifty ton truck. As to the 5'-10" whee

Can't stop beating this horse while it's still twitching :-) I was curious what my source material for our Andrews truck was, and since the Hathi Trust now has the 1919 CBC on line, I found the drawin

Dave is correct, the Accurail Andrews truck is the 70 ton version, as our basic truck mold has the scale 5'-8" axle spacing. I just looked through our files this morning but couldn't find any referenc

The Frisco had them too, and one ended up at the Illinois Railway Museum, where it runs on weekends during the summer. I was well acquainted with the gentleman, Dave Shore, who was the "messenger" (at

David, It's my understanding that the railroads tended to only use them on trackage not rated for "high speed", that of course being solely each railroad's decision to make in our era. Yes, the are a

Look Ma, no guardrails. Obviously low speed secondary track as every turnout in the image has a self guarding frog. Dennis Storzek

I bet they also show the original roof with round seam caps held on with cast fittings screwed to the fascia, same as what shows on the Pullman and Haskell & Barker drawings of similar cars. I briefly

This is essentially the Accurail 1700 series boxcar showing the extra straps the NYC added to reinforce the ends. Dennis Storzek

I donno, Tony. I've never tooled a flatcar deck, but Accurail's wood running boards model them as smooth round flat spots, about .002" deep, so they'll catch any weathering wash. When these flat head

The ends were a proprietary product (also patented) so when the Standard Railway Equipment Co. changed the way the ends were to attach, everybody else, railroad and carbuilder alike, had to modify the

These cars had clasp brakes, that is, brake shoes on both sides of the wheel, similar to passenger cars. The big B&LE hoppers built about fifteen years later had them also. Clasp brakes, which pinch t

But, keep in mind the purpose for which they were drawn; to allow someone in a distant office to assess the risk of fire spreading to a particular building. Since railroad tracks were both potential f

There was a mix... for a long time. Both valves are compatible, but the AB equipment has more features; a separate supply of air for an emergency brake application, for one. This was not a government

I'm sorry, I missed the second part of your question. No, no angle. D bits (also known as single lip cutters) work by the straight edge formed by grinding half the diameter away scraping a tiny chip f

Dremel tool with an abrasive disk, same as used to grind the flat. Someone mentioned Tichy phosphor bronze wire. I never tried it, but I bet that would be stiff enough and stay sharp long enough. Denn

Most hobby grade twist drills are long enough to reach in from the end of the car to drill through the body bolster. I use either #72 (.025" dia.) or # 71 (.026" dia.) to give a bit of rattle room. Ca

Nice varnish. It appears to work much like Dullcote and Glosscote USED to work, many years ago. I'm surprised Gene Deimling hasn't spoken up about some of the weathering work being done in Proto:48. T

Blackall hand brakes were common on USRA hoppers, can't see why they wouldn't be used on the gons, too.. These are not "pump" style brakes, but rather rotary, with an internal ratchet inside the cap t

And I'm sure that's where it came from, an unambiguous way to describe a defect in need of repair. The MCB system for freight cars is one of three the railroads used, all from different origins but fo

Might be something useful here: https://www.irm.org/gallery/IC40285 This looks to be the same class of car with the door opening expanded, but I have no idea when. Dennis Storzek